Header

Tuesday, February 6, 2018

The Midway City Council approved a
contract Monday with the City of Versailles for five years of police protection at a
much higher cost.

Midway will pay Versailles, which patrols all of Woodford
County, 4.25 percent of its annual police budget. The current budget
is $3.9 million, which would make the first year's payment $165,975.

That would be 66 percent more than the current annual cost
of $100,000, but Midway officials have long expected a big increase. The county
has already agreed to pay Versailles more -- $1.4 million, or 38 percent of the
city's police budget.

Each citizen will end up paying about $100 per year for this
service, Mayor Grayson Vandegrift said, adding, “That sounds like a fair deal
to me.”

Vandegrift said that the Versailles Police Department
“serves us very well. They are very responsive to our needs.” He added that
Assistant Chief Mike Murray, the department’s point man for Midway, “does an
outstanding job.”

Council member Sarah Hicks also said that she has been
impressed with the Versailles police.

“In my previous terms on the city council, I did not have as
good of an experience as I have been having the last year and a half, and I’m
really, really appreciative,” Hicks said.

Vandegrift said a few minor changes were made to the
contract from the one approved by a council committee, plus one material
change, to let him to “select a representative to participate in meetings with
the mayor of Versailles and chief of police of the Versailles Police Department
beginning in March each year as the budget recommendation is drafted.”

“That will basically give us a voice in the budget process
each March,” Vandegrift said. “Not a vote, but a voice.” For the contract and the rest of the council's meeting packet, click here.

Merchants plan monthly activities: Peggy Angel, who was re-elected as president of the Midway
Business Association last month, told
the council that the merchants are planning events almost every month this
year.

“We have been really actively reflecting back on 2017 to see
how we could do more things in 2018 to help bring visitors into the city,”
Angel said. “I understand that the city would like us to do an event every
month. We are going to try our very best to do that.”

The first event is this Saturday, Feb. 10: the annual Chocolate Stroll, in which visitors and citizens visit businesses on historic Main Street to get their
tickets stamped so they can be entered into a raffle, all while enjoying
chocolate treats from each business.

“Basically, the idea is to get them into our businesses to
see what’s here,” Angel said. “They may not buy, but at least we’re educating
them.”

Other events this year include a new St. Patrick’s Day event
on Saturday, March 17, for which restaurants will donate food, drinks and gift
baskets; and the annual Fall Festival in September, which Angel said will
feature around 20 more booths this year, some of them educational.

Angel asked the council to help the merchants keep their
interstate signs, which cost $1,200 a year. Vandegrift asked her to write a formal request to be put on
the agenda for the next meeting, and said the money is available.

In other business, the council renewed the contract with
John Soper, chair of the Woodford County Economic Development Authority.
Vandegrift said the contract reads exactly the same as last year’s. Soper is
paid $5,720 a month; Midway’s share is $858.

Soper recruits employers for the county, and one of his most
active areas has been Midway Station and property adjoining the industrial park,
which was largely vacant until recently. “The outlook at Midway Station,
honestly, looks a lot better than it ever has,” Vandegrift said. He said the
city is in a position “to truly tailor Midway Station more to our liking.”

The council also approved a request by Gary Smith, who
recently purchased half an acre just south of the city limits, to hook on to
the city water system. Smith and his wife intend to build a home on the
property.

The council also voted to accept the final version of the audit for the 2016-17 fiscal year, the preliminary version of which was discussed at a previous meeting.

Council Member Libby Warfield again missed attending due to
illness. In calling for the usual moment of silent reflection at the start of
the meeting, Vandegrift asked members to remember Warfield.

Featured Post

News in and around the small but surprisingly interesting town of Midway, Ky., reported, written and photographed mainly by students in community journalism classes in the University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Media, taught by Extension Professor Al Cross, director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues,www.RuralJournalism.org.